Mass digitization has become a real cultural phenomenon in recent years. With the rapid advancement of today’s technology, our society has evolved to adapt to the high speed of a modern, digital world.
The replacement of a large number of human services with artificial intelligence and computers has contributed to a greater satisfaction of clients but it has also sparked negative backlash and controversies. So, is digitization always positive? How far will we “digitize” and when is the limit to stop before it’s too late?
Personally, my first striking encounter with with digitization was when I visited the Netherlands for the first time. During my trip I had the sudden urge to visit a bank and I was unpleasantly surprised that the Dutch closed all their affiliates in order to “make it easier for the clients”. So, basically the only way to get the answers to your questions is to visit the bank’s website.
Not long ago, I also stumbled upon the new McDonald’s self-service machines. Instead of waiting hours in line to order your menu, these large machines, which resemble big touchscreens, are used as an alternative to traditional in-line-food-ordering. I really liked this concept because it drastically reduced the long time I have to wait in queue to get my food.
The problem with this kind of digization is that it will steal the jobs of millions of working-class employees, that heavily rely on their small paychecks to provide food and shelter to their families. Automatization of technology will always be ruthless to the lower spectrum of the social classes.
A more positive form of life-changing technology is the sharing of digital media. When I was born back in 1998, music and video files could only be shared via video-tapes and audio cassettes. These were later replaced by CD’s and DVD’s. Nowadays, music and films can be downloaded entirely on the internet (iTunes, Amazon) or via online streaming (Spotify, Apple music, YouTube).
The internet is also a great place for digitalized communcation. Social media has become the number one communication tool of our generation. Platforms such as Skype, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat make it much easier (and cheaper) to chat, to set-up meetings or to share photos. Via this big, digital world, everyone on Earth is connected in the expanding universe what we call the internet.
All in all, digitization is a process, designed to nurture the capitalistic needs of the wealthy, to win more money for less effort. Digitization, however, is also a sign of progress, of technological advancement. It can have many positive consequences for the society but it can also be poisonous for others. Before we start digitizing everything, we should first ask ourselves the question: “Is it really worth it?”, because some people’s lives will depend on your decision…
With the technoligical advancement of mankind and the arrival of the internet, listening to music has never been as easy and as accessible as it is nowadays. However, I personally think that now that music is so easy to access, people are afraid to dive deeper in the huge diversity of songs and prefer to scratch the surface, to only consume what the masses consume: songs from the Billboard Top 100 or other “popular” charts.
